Emergency Alert System (EAS)
Beginning January 1, 1997, the new Emergency Alert System (EAS) replaced the old EBS for all broadcast stations--AM, FM, and TV. This new system replaced the weekly "only a test" message with less obtrusive weekly tests and shorter, monthly on-air tests for television and radio stations. The EAS uses digital technology to distribute messages, and this allows for improvements in providing emergency information to the public. The new system has a less obtrusive testing system--broadcast stations are only required to transmit the digital codes, test script, attention signal, and, for TV stations a visual message, once a month. The required weekly test only consists of the digital codes and should be less than 8 seconds in duration.
The new EAS should be less likely to cause broadcast audiences to tune out the EBS because they assume it is "just a test". The new system allows state and local officials to quickly send out important area specific state and local emergency information and it also recognizes the need to provide emergency information to people whose first language is not English.
The Emergency Alert System (EAS) is a national public warning system commonly used by state and local authorities to deliver important emergency information, such as weather and AMBER alerts, to affected communities. EAS Participants – radio and television broadcasters, cable systems, satellite radio and television providers, and wireline video providers – deliver local alerts on a voluntary basis, but they are required to provide the capability for the President to address the public during a national emergency.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), the FCC, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's National Weather Service (NWS) work collaboratively to maintain the EAS and Wireless Emergency Alerts, which are the two main components of the national public warning system and enable authorities at all levels of government to send urgent emergency information to the public.
FEMA is responsible for any national-level activation, tests, and exercises of the EAS. The FCC's role includes establishing technical standards for EAS Participants, procedures for EAS Participants to follow in the event the system is activated, and testing protocols for EAS Participants.
Alerts are created by authorized federal, state, and local authorities. The FCC does not create or transmit EAS alerts. The majority of EAS alerts originate from the National Weather Service in response to severe weather events, but an increasing number of state, local, territorial, and tribal authorities also send alerts. In addition, the NOAA Weather Radio All Hazards network, the only federally-sponsored radio transmission of warning information to the public, is part of the EAS.
On 27 October 2022 the Federal Communications Commission proposed rules to bolster the operational readiness and security of the nation’s public alert and warning systems, the Emergency Alert System and Wireless Emergency Alerts. The Commission proposed to protect against cyberattacks by requiring Emergency Alert System participants, such as broadcasters and cable providers, to report incidents of unauthorized access to their Emergency Alert System equipment to the Commission within 72 hours. This would allow the Commission to work with participants and other government agencies to resolve an equipment compromise before it is exploited to send false alerts.
The new rules would promote security by requiring Emergency Alert System participants and the wireless providers that deliver Wireless Emergency Alerts to annually certify that they have a cybersecurity risk management plan and implement sufficient security measures for their alerting systems., and guard against false alerts by requiring participating wireless providers to transmit sufficient authentication information to ensure that only valid alerts are displayed on consumer devices.
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